When to Plant Ornamental Grasses in Stillwater, MN

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Stillwater can be reviewed to estimate when it's a good idea to plant ornamental grasses.


Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

Frost tolerance for ornamental grasses: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since ornamental grasses are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant ornamental grasses
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant ornamental grasses
Probably not a good time to plant ornamental grasses

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in Stillwater is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your ornamental grasses indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Stillwater. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Stillwater may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Stillwater it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your ornamental grasses in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Stillwater

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Stillwater

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Stillwater.